I figured that since Bruce Sterling co-authored a book with William Gibson, my current favorite author and widely regarded father of 'cyberpunk', he would be an equally engaging and fast-paced author, telling tales of a dark post-capitalistic future filled with bizarre technology and multi-faceted characters. Well, I suppose he did, but not as well as Gibson. Heavy Weather is a story about a band of gypsies that chase tornadoes. Or maybe its about a young man's struggle to find himself and his station in life. Then again, it may be about a bunch of rich and powerful people who are trying to break free from the world that they are secretly running. It's hard to tell. Alex Unger, who we meet in a Latin American rehabilitation clinic of somewhat dubious reputation, seems to be the main character, but that isn't really apparent until the very end. It could be about his sister Jane, or Jerry Mulcahey, the leader of the ingeniously named 'Storm Troupe'.

As with Rum Punch, I couldn't find a compelling character in this book. And I wasn't really sold on the premise. The apocalypse we were all worried about manifested itself as really bad weather, and now people live in fear of tornadoes. This must have been really bad weather. I suppose there's some sort of commentary on the environment and global warming and all that, but I just didn't buy into it. And the whole thing builds up to this storm of mythical proportions, and then the climax sort of fell flat. I was hoping that I could find another author through association, like finding Peter Straub through Stephen King, but I'd rather just read Neuromancer again.